Bid to get old cars off road in Dallas in low gear

By TERRY BOX / The Dallas Morning News
tbox@dallasnews.com

Applications to the Dallas area's old-car replacement program have plummeted 40 percent, slowed dramatically by the sputtering economy.

At Yellow Cab in Dallas, a new Toyota Camry hybrid is prepared for service. Cab owners and taxi companies can get $5,000 vouchers to replace older vehicles with hybrids and other low-emission vehicles.

The steep drop in participation comes at a time when the Dallas-Fort Worth area is meeting federal clean-air standards for ozone pollution, officials said.

The old-car program, which began last December to help the area attain those standards, provides $3,000 vouchers to low- and moderate-income residents to replace vehicles that are at least 10 years old.

Older cars and trucks emit up to 30 times more pollution than new vehicles.

"This year, in a hot summer, our [ozone] numbers were way down," said state Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, who sponsored the bill that created the program. "We are meeting standards that no one expected us to reach for years to come."

The Houston area, which, like Dallas, is in violation of clean-air standards and has a car-replacement program, also attained an average of 85 parts of ozone per billion parts of air last summer – though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is toughening the standard to 75 parts, said Terry Clawson, a spokesman for the Texas Environmental Quality Commission.

Cabdriver Art Fairchild, driving a client from Dallas to Irving, estimates that he has saved more than $3,000 on gas with the Toyota Camry hybrid he's been driving. The economy is blamed for lower participation in the D-FW and Houston-area taxi and car swap air-quality incentive programs.

Participation in Houston's old-car program is down about 55 percent.

"The reductions [in ozone] are very significant," Mr. Clawson said. "It shows we're on the right track because we are getting the worst of the worst cars off the road."

The vouchers provide down payments for new cars or trucks or for late-model used vehicles – which also boosts newer-vehicle sales. Most dealers can use it. Through October, dealers in the four-county Dallas-Fort Worth area sold 295,218 cars and trucks, an 8.5 percent decline from the same period a year ago.

Jason Brown, air-quality operations manager in the transportation department at the North Central Texas Council of Governments, said $21 million in vouchers for as many as 7,000 newer vehicles will still be issued during this phase of the program. About $24 million was allocated in the first phase.

Motorists in regions of Texas that don't meet clean-air standards – mainly the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas – pay $6 more for their annual vehicle inspections, which funds the old-car replacement program.

"Unfortunately, maybe people just don't feel completely comfortable right now taking on car payments," Mr. Brown said.

Publicity lacking

Many new-car dealers have cut their advertising to reduce expenses, which has indirectly affected the old-car voucher program. During the first phase of the program between December and June, participating dealers advertised extensively for the vouchers in an attempt to attract sales.

But as dealers scramble to adjust to the area's increasingly weak economy, advertisements about the old-car program have declined. The the North Central Texas Council of Governments plans to initiate its own ads for the program this month.

Area new-car dealers still support the voucher program, said Drew Campbell, president of the New Car Dealers Association of Metropolitan Dallas. But it lost some momentum after all the funds in the first phase were spent and operations were suspended for two months until new funding arrived.

"When the fund was replenished, it was September, and that's when the bottom fell out of everything," Mr. Campbell said.

The program is open to people with 1998 model or older cars or trucks. The vehicles must be registered within the participating counties, and participants must meet income requirements. A family of four, for example, cannot have a net income of more than $63,600.

Vouchers can be used on most new vehicles that cost $25,000 or less. Old trade-ins are salvaged. For more information on program guidelines, visit www.nctcog.org/airchecktexas.

Taxicabs, too

This phase of the program also contains a small amount of funds from a separate grant for the replacement of area taxicabs, which typically are driven about 70,000 miles annually. But, like the old-car program, participation is lagging.

The program offers $5,000 vouchers to cab owners and taxi companies to replace their current vehicles with hybrid and other low-emissions vehicles.

About $1.6 million is available in two phases, with a goal in this phase of $800,000 in vouchers by Dec. 31. So far, only 11 or 12 vouchers have been issued, said Jenny Danieau, transportation planner at the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

"It's just the economy right now," she said.

"These low-emission vehicles are more expensive, but we're trying to show them that they are more economical in the long run."

Dealers still use the voucher program occasionally to sell cars, said Don Herring, who owns Mitsubishi dealerships in Dallas, Irving and Plano.

"It's a good program," he said.

"It will get better when the economy improves and we can get some more publicity for it."

HOW IT WORKS

To apply for the old-car voucher program, call the North Central Texas Council of Governments at 1-800-898-9103.

What's available: $3,000 for a new car or truck or one up to three model years old; $3,500 for a new hybrid vehicle or one up to one model year old. The car or truck you buy must cost $25,000 or less.

Eligible vehicles: Your car or truck must be gas-powered and a 1998 model or older. The vehicle must have been registered for at least 12 months before you apply for the voucher. And it must have passed a safety inspection in the 15 months before you apply.

Eligible counties: Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant

INCOME LEVELS

Here are the maximum annual net incomes for voucher applicants:
Household size Income

1 member $31,200
2 members $42,000
3 members $52,800
4 members $63,600
5 members $74,400
6 members $85,200
7 members $96,000
8 members $106,800

If you have more than eight in your family, add $10,800 for each additional member.

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